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Forgive me for cutting and pasting my report from my blog, but I don't wanna type it up again... I did expand on some things here tho':
Fishing June 11th, 2006: Surf at Pocket #3 and West bay at 8 Mile Road
Arriving at the finest looking surf I have ever seen, I waded into the water at 6:45 and took up a slot among a continual string of fishermen from what looked like one end of Galveston to the other. I was at Beach Pocket Park No. 3 down by 11 mile road. There was a stinking, fetid matt of rotting seaweed on the beach, but the water only had small clumps of the Sargasso floating in. There were no waves early in the day, and even at 4 feet deep I could still see my feet very faintly through the green, clear water. It looked incredible!
I chose a topwater first, but that didn't last long, and soon switched to a gold spoon with a little white bucktail on it. I worked the spoon fast, slow, and in between, but it was working it excruciatingly slow that finally started to get some hits. Unfortunately none of the hits were hookups but one, and that was a tail hooked Spanish Mackerel that must gave been investigating but not eating. I really like to catch "smacks" but not by the tail. Toseed him back to heal up and get caught when bigger. He was 14".
I didn't see anyone catch anything all morning, despite many of us working right in and among the feeding birds and the rafts of mullet. Just like during the week it seemed there were no speckled trout to be caught. I know they were there, just not eating.
Around 10am, I slung my Gold spoon into oblivion, snapping the line at a weak spot. Upon investigation of the tag end I noticed it had somehow managed to pick up some serious abrasion. I'm sure glad Johnson Sprite spoons are cheap. I took the opportunity to try a new lure, seeing glass minnows and smallish baitfish, I chose a clear Tsunami holographic swim bait. These baits always looked so good to me, they look to me as close to real as one could get. With the clear water, fish would be wary and would be able to take a good look at the bait, so I went for realism. I caught no specks with it, but it must have looked real because I caught two very large whiting with it! And those were the only fish I saw caught up and down the surf all day. I dropped the first one when he wen't wiggy on me, he was going to be dinner, so I let the second one go being resigned to a burger on the way home.
When the beachgoers became thick and splashing, screaming children and their happy yellow dogs were wading out to the second bar to see what all the fishermen were catching, I decided to leave. I went back to the bay side and waded from 8 mile road over to the northeast about a mile. Man, that 8 mile road area is really a dumpy place, but I like the easy access it gives to the northeast part of West Bay. I had cast netted a few shrimp and little mullet to soak since I was really tired of casting all morning. With a popping cork and a pretty lazy approach to wading, I slogged throught the oyster flats. I had pretty much just decided to enjoy the slow walk. I had several hookups but pulled in only one- a huge 28" long gafftop. He made two good strong runs and then pooped out, making a third small effort to bolt when he got a look at me. He slimed up my line prtty good too. He was croaking at me as I unhooked the worn out guy, and I watched him swim away exhausted. Its no game fish, but I was happy to have landed a pretty good sized fish. I've heard gafftops are excellent eating, though some would never admit it. I was tired and didn't wanna clean him.
I decided to head home around 3:00, having caught the two whiting and a gafftop, and tail hooked the mackerel. Not too good considering the picture-perfect conditions of the water, but sure better than the last few days when I caught absolutely nuthin'.
Fishing June 11th, 2006: Surf at Pocket #3 and West bay at 8 Mile Road
Arriving at the finest looking surf I have ever seen, I waded into the water at 6:45 and took up a slot among a continual string of fishermen from what looked like one end of Galveston to the other. I was at Beach Pocket Park No. 3 down by 11 mile road. There was a stinking, fetid matt of rotting seaweed on the beach, but the water only had small clumps of the Sargasso floating in. There were no waves early in the day, and even at 4 feet deep I could still see my feet very faintly through the green, clear water. It looked incredible!
I chose a topwater first, but that didn't last long, and soon switched to a gold spoon with a little white bucktail on it. I worked the spoon fast, slow, and in between, but it was working it excruciatingly slow that finally started to get some hits. Unfortunately none of the hits were hookups but one, and that was a tail hooked Spanish Mackerel that must gave been investigating but not eating. I really like to catch "smacks" but not by the tail. Toseed him back to heal up and get caught when bigger. He was 14".
I didn't see anyone catch anything all morning, despite many of us working right in and among the feeding birds and the rafts of mullet. Just like during the week it seemed there were no speckled trout to be caught. I know they were there, just not eating.
Around 10am, I slung my Gold spoon into oblivion, snapping the line at a weak spot. Upon investigation of the tag end I noticed it had somehow managed to pick up some serious abrasion. I'm sure glad Johnson Sprite spoons are cheap. I took the opportunity to try a new lure, seeing glass minnows and smallish baitfish, I chose a clear Tsunami holographic swim bait. These baits always looked so good to me, they look to me as close to real as one could get. With the clear water, fish would be wary and would be able to take a good look at the bait, so I went for realism. I caught no specks with it, but it must have looked real because I caught two very large whiting with it! And those were the only fish I saw caught up and down the surf all day. I dropped the first one when he wen't wiggy on me, he was going to be dinner, so I let the second one go being resigned to a burger on the way home.
When the beachgoers became thick and splashing, screaming children and their happy yellow dogs were wading out to the second bar to see what all the fishermen were catching, I decided to leave. I went back to the bay side and waded from 8 mile road over to the northeast about a mile. Man, that 8 mile road area is really a dumpy place, but I like the easy access it gives to the northeast part of West Bay. I had cast netted a few shrimp and little mullet to soak since I was really tired of casting all morning. With a popping cork and a pretty lazy approach to wading, I slogged throught the oyster flats. I had pretty much just decided to enjoy the slow walk. I had several hookups but pulled in only one- a huge 28" long gafftop. He made two good strong runs and then pooped out, making a third small effort to bolt when he got a look at me. He slimed up my line prtty good too. He was croaking at me as I unhooked the worn out guy, and I watched him swim away exhausted. Its no game fish, but I was happy to have landed a pretty good sized fish. I've heard gafftops are excellent eating, though some would never admit it. I was tired and didn't wanna clean him.
I decided to head home around 3:00, having caught the two whiting and a gafftop, and tail hooked the mackerel. Not too good considering the picture-perfect conditions of the water, but sure better than the last few days when I caught absolutely nuthin'.
